I dug a little deeper this week to identify plants I haven't used recently to mix things up with those I've used more frequently. I kicked off my first vase with the flower-like bracts of
Leucadendron 'Summer Red'.
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| The bracts on the 'Summer Red' I cut are paler than others in my garden, possibly because they get less sun. In any case, they were quickly eclipsed by the flowers of Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream'. |
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| Back view: Most of the energy of this arrangement came from the curious brown flowers of Chrondropetalum elephantinum (aka Large Cape Rush), which was sold to me as the dwarf C. tectorum (Small Cape Rush). Mine is most definitely not a dwarf! Planted in a succulent bed at the front of our property, it spills over into the street, hiding 3 Agaves planted in front of it. |
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| Top view, showing off the pales rosebud-like bracts of Leucadendron 'Summer Red' |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream', Chrondropetalum elephantinum, Leptospermum 'Copper Glow', Leucadendron salignum 'Summer Red', Lobelia laxiflora foliage, and Nemesia 'Snow Angel' |
Amaryllis
'Zombie' is closing in on the end of its seasonal run. I initially thought I'd just refresh the vase I've had in place for the last 2 weeks but, as most of the contents of that vase were past their prime, I decided to give
'Zombie' a fresh look with a different mix of stems.
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| Amaryllis (Hippeastrum) 'Zombie' has put on a very good show, although the heat from our new HVAC system dries the flowers out in record time |
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| Back view:'Zombie' hangs out in my lath (shade) house and, while I was there to clip a new flower stalk, I cut a couple of the tropicalesque stems of Fatsia 'Camouflage' too even if it's not remotely tropical here at the moment. While we had a couple of days with daytime temperatures above 70F early last week, it's generally been colder than usual and since December 26th we've only had 1/100th of an inch of rain. |
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| Top view:'Zombie' is pretty flashy but I think the colorful bracts of Leucadendron 'Safari Sunset' give it a run for its money |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Hippeastrum 'Zombie', leftover noID green Chrysanthemum, Euryops virgineus 'Tali', Leucadendron 'Safari Sunset', and Fatsia japonica 'Camouflage' |
Visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden to find more IAVOM posts.
All material © 2012-2020 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
